Council Notebook: Short-term pain for rates and fees
Notes from this week’s St. Catharines City Council meeting...
Short-term pain for rates and fees
Rates and fees charged by the city for everything from renting the Lakeside Park carousel to buying a burial plot in Victoria Lawn Cemetery are going up next year.
But city council adopted a policy Monday that will see future fee increases set at the rate of inflation to avoid sudden large hikes like some imposed this year.
“Increasing by rate of inflation each year, we’re ensuring that we’re not doing a catch-up job,” said St. Patrick’s Coun. Mat Siscoe, chair of the budget standing committee.
The rate of inflation for 2017 is 2.1 per cent. A staff report said some fees in 2017 are increasing by more than inflation because they hadn’t seen an increase for a few years or because material and labour costs for the service drove the price up.
The wide range of jumps include aquatics programs and pool rentals, facility rentals, playing field usage, lots at the cemetery, services at the performing arts centre and more.
Siscoe said people get frustrated when they see fees go up by 25 per cent in some years and adopting a rate of inflation going forward should address that. He said the budget committee wanted to streamline the rates and fees.
The 2017 schedule of rates and fees passed by council Monday, but not all councillors were for it.
Merritton Coun. Dave Haywood questioned why some parks and rec programswerebeingincreasedmore than arena usage while fellow Coun. Jennie Stevens was concerned increases would hurt seniors.
Phil Cristi, city manager of programs and cultural services, said rates and fees are going up because costs to the city are increasing year over year due to materials and legal costs beyond the city’s control.
Grantham Coun. Bill Phillips said in some cases, the percentage jump may sound like a lot, but in dollars and cents could be $4 or $5.
Phillips said if the city wants to maintain programs, it has to raise money through future fees or face increasing taxes or eliminating programs.
The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation wants to build to solar power systems near the Welland Canal in St. Catharines.
Officials from the corporation told city council Monday they want to construct two 500kw solar arrays on seaway land under the province’s feed-in-tarriff program.
The panels would be built off Glendale Avenue near the seaway office west of the canal and near the GM plant east of the canal.
Seaway officials were at City Hall asking council to approve a resolution supporting the construction and operation of renewable fuel generation projects.
The resolution, which was passed by council, is aimed at enabling applicants to the feed-intariff program to receive priority points under the program. Applicants still have to seek approvals through the city’s building code, fire code and other processes and applications.
The seaway said it required council support by the end of October to go forward with the project.
John Papakyriakou of the Seaway said the project will allow the not-for-profit seaway to produce revenues from vacant land. All revenues will be reinvested into seaway operations.
The seaway said the project will have minimal impact on overall current electricity prices for consumers.
But St. Patrick’s Coun. Mat Siscoe, who voted against the resolution with Grantham Coun. Sandie Bellows, argued the program was making hydro unaffordable.
“There are residents in this community who are drowning under their costs of hydro.”
Fewer rental vacancies in St. Catharines may lead the city to put the kibosh on future requests to convert rental buildings to condos.
Jim Riddell, director of planning and building services, told councillors Monday his department will be discouraging further conversions until they have a handle on the vacancy rate.
The city’s Garden City Plan says conversions from rentals to condos should be discouraged if the annual rental vacancy rate is less than three per cent.
Riddell said St. Catharines’ current rate is at 3.1 per cent, according to the last rental market report in Fall 2015.
But the market report data didn’t include 536 rental units that became condominium units in 2016. That means the city’s rental unit vacancy rate may fall to less than three per cent this year, a staff report to council said.
The vacancy rate discussion came up during public meetings about properties in St. Catharines than are asking for conversions from rentals to condos at 11 Permilla Street, 100 Woodrow and 80 Rockwood. The planning department is recommending those conversions be granted, but future requests be put off. Council will made a decision on Nov. 7.